Philippines B2C E-Commerce Market 2017 Description

Online retail in the Philippines is in infantile stages due to about 1% of all retail sales stemming from E-Commerce, confirms information found by yStats.com. However, the Philippines is actually forecasted to soon rank second in terms of market growth amongst the leading six online retail markets in Southeast Asia due to a raise in Internet and smartphone penetration. It is also expected to overtake Singapore, Vietnam and Malaysia to rank as third in the area by 2025 regarding B2C E-Commerce market size.

E-Commerce in the Philippines is, however, experiencing growth obstacles such as an underdeveloped logistics infrastructure and their complex island geography. Customers also lack trust in online credit card payments, leaving cash on delivery as the preferred payment method. Third party survey results cited in the yStats.com report conveyed that almost three-quarters of digital buyers from this country still paid with cash when receiving goods.

Information from the yStats.com report reveals how Lazada, the major player in this region who is controlled by Alibaba, accounted for almost one-fifth of the E-Commerce market in the Philippines in 2016. Though they don’t have local E-Commerce presence, US-based Amazon has still made their mark with over half of digital buyers beginning a product search through them.